Tara

Now that Willow had been drained of her magic, Tara felt more alive and more powerful than she can remember. She had no idea what Willow had done to her to keep her in this somewhat alive state. It hurt her immensely to see her love had turned into this. Tara knew her time was short, and she had to do what she could to make sure Willow could recover from what happened and have some chance to set the world right.

With Willow no longer in control of her magic, Tara could feel that whatever was binding her to this plane was slipping away. Memories started to pour in, all the times she started to question what Willow was doing, even before she had died. Snippets of fights over magic that they had and then was magicked into forgetting. Her heart burned as she thought of what Willow had been willing to do to her. Even remembering all that Willow had done, she couldn't help herself, she still loved her. She still believed that Willow was capable of great things and would be needed to help the world recover.

Tara watched Faith standing by the door, her body tense. Anxiety and fear radiating from her. She's so lost and confused. She's so sure that she has no value that she can't even accept that people might want her in their lives. That she might have value beyond what her body can offer them. How can I possibly convince her how important she is?

"Willow told me a lot about you. Or at least her version of you." Tara never believed that Willow lied about anything she said about Faith. She only knew that Willow never took the time to consider why Faith had done the things she had done. Willow was too willing to believe that Faith was evil and not worthy of consideration. Tara had tried a few times to get Willow to think about these things, but it never ended well.

"So you know why having me around when Red wakes up, isn't a great idea. Even if she's not evil anymore, she's still going to hate me."

"I know why you might think that." Tara sat back down on the bed. "What I showed you is a very small glimpse of how much I can see. Those colors you could see show the strongest surface emotions a person is feeling. They don't tell you everything though." Tara doesn't know the details of what had happened to Faith, but she could see the pain. She could also see how strong Faith was, how much she had overcome.

Faith is even more nervous now, continuing to lean towards the door, her desire to escape is clear.

"You're not evil."

"What?"

"You are not evil, never were."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know more about you than you do." Tara frowned, "If you don't stop backing out of this room, you're not going to like what happens." Tara stands, her posture and tone changing significantly.

"You're threatening me now?" The threat was not well received, Faith focused on her anger and took an aggressive step towards Tara.

Tara sighed and dropped back down to the bed. "Faith, I don't have a lot of time here. Just stop trying to run away while I explain things to you."

Faith looks back to the door one more time and then slowly nods. She moves forward into the room enough to lean against the door crossing her arms over her chest. "Get to the point, then."

Tara shook her head and looked sadly over at Willow. "I love Willow, with my everything. When she wakes up, she's going to be devastated. Not just because she lost me, but because of everything that she did to get me back. Things she did even before I was killed." Tara looked up, keeping eye contact with Faith. "I know this isn't fair of me to ask. But you have to be here to help her through this."

"That's beyond not fair. It doesn't even make sense. Why would I be able to help her? B was her best friend. She's the one Red is going to need."

"Buffy won't understand. She's never been driven to do things she knew was wrong."

Faith chuckled, "Did Willow forget to tell you how we ended up in this mess in the first place?"

"Nobody knows the details of what happened, you both disappeared before anyone could explain it." Tara shrugged.

"Well, I'll tell you then. B fucking stabbed me!" Lifting up her shirt to show the wound, Tara hid her surprise at the news. Knowing Faith was using this to fuel her anger, Tara couldn't afford to let Faith be angry right now. "She was going to kill me and feed me to her boyfriend. I think she might understand more about darkness than you think!" Faith has taken several steps forward, her anger radiating from her.

Tara kept her face calm as Faith yelled at her. "How did you get away?"

"I…"

"She let you go," It was a statement, not a question.

Faith sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "Yeah, she did."

"Do you know why she let you go?"

Faith shrugged and shifted her feet, casting her eyes down. Tara can feel the waves of shame and confusion pouring out of Faith.

"You saw how your auras were intertwined. You can't see it now, but I still can. Your energies are linked, they're reaching for each other. Even when you left here, your energies still reached out, searching to find contact with the other."

"So? Did you forget the part where she stabbed me? Where she was going to kill me?" Tara can tell Faith is trying to focus on her anger, she's still not willing to believe anything good can be real for her.

Tara stood up and put her hands on the slayer's shoulders. "You should go to her. You should try and tap into that energy."

"There's no point. B and me are like oil and water - we'll never mix. We'll always be fighting each other."

"Are you sure about that? Has she been at all aggressive to you or given you any indication that she wants to fight you lately?"

Faith frowns, only shaking her head in response.

"Together you, Buffy and Willow can fix all the mistakes that Willow made. If you leave, there is no hope that things will ever get better out there."

"They don't need me." Faith shakes her head and stuffs her hands into her pockets.

Tara was getting tired, and she had work to do and very little time to do it. "I wish I had more time to help you get to where you need to get to. I know you have no reason to trust me, or anyone else. But maybe you can try trusting yourself. Let yourself accept what's right in front of you." Tara backed away from Faith and sat down at the desk. "You should go now." Tara could only hope that Faith would try, she knew Faith had it within herself to do this, she just had to believe.

Faith

What the fuck was all that about? I should trust myself? I'm the only one I do trust. Anytime I listen to anybody else things get all screwed up. Just look what I almost did believing in Angelus. Faith exited the room and shut the door behind her, leaning heavily against it. She looked down the hallway to her left, knowing that was the way out. Her body was screaming at her to leave, to get as far away from all this as possible. She didn't want anything to do with Buffy or helping Willow.

Closing her eyes, she remembered what she saw with their auras. She had been mesmerized as they swirled around each other. The way the different colors mixed, almost like they were dancing. It was the most incredible thing Faith had ever seen. More than seeing it, she could feel it. With her eyes closed, she could feel it now, feel it pulling her to the right, towards Buffy. She focused on the tingle of her slayer sense, opening herself up to it. There was sadness radiating from Buffy.

She expects that I'm going to leave and it's making her miserable. Why do I even want to leave? I have nowhere to go. Without even realizing it, she had begun to drift down the hallway. Not until she was standing in front of Buffy's door did she become aware of what she was doing. Her connection was still open, and she felt a shift in the energy. Buffy knew she was here, and her sadness turned into a wary excitement.

The door slowly opened before Faith could knock. Faith's heart ached at the hopeful look on Buffy's face. Why is she looking at me like that? How can she possibly be happy to see me or want me to be around? It was impossible to deny the truth of what Buffy was feeling, as much Faith wanted to believe that it was a lie, she knew it wasn't. She did not doubt that Buffy cared for her, she just couldn't imagine why. She wasn't worthy of anyone caring about her.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen when Tara does her thing… but I guess we just wait?" Faith shifted around nervously under Buffy's open staring. Her hands stuffed in her pockets, keeping her distance from the doorway, wanting to be clear that she wasn't going to enter the room.

"Ok, thanks." Buffy backed into her room, "What are you going to do?"

"I was thinking about grabbing something to eat." Faith shrugged.

"Ok." Buffy drops her eyes and starts to close the door.

"Do you want to come with me? We should also probably try to find Giles too, tell him what Tara is going to do."

"Giles is here?"

"He should be with the soldier guys. C'mon lets go talk to him."

Buffy smiled and stepped into the hallway.

"B?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not going to leave," Faith felt an extreme shift in Buffy's emotions, so powerful that they scared her, "not until all this stuff with Willow is over." Adding the second part she felt another shift, the elation she felt only moments ago is almost completely erased. It wasn't quite as bad as the hopelessness she was feeling before, but it was close. It hurt Faith immensely that she could be the source of so many emotions in the blonde slayer. She wanted to take it back, wanted to promise that she would never leave Buffy's side so that she could feel that burst of happiness again. She wasn't ready though. It was too scary to think that her presence could mean that much to anyone, never mind the Chosen One.

They walked in silence until reaching the surveillance room that Buffy had been in before. They spotted Giles talking with Riley. Upon seeing Giles, Buffy lit up and ran to him.

"Giles!" Buffy squeals as she wraps the watcher in a slayer hug that had him gasping in seconds. Faith watches the exchange curiously. She can tell the quality of emotions Buffy has for Giles are intense, but they are completely different than what she feels for Faith.

"Buffy, I'm so glad to see you're ok." He had a huge smile on his face. The hug lasts for a few minutes, the soldiers in the room continue to focus on their work. Only Riley seems to have his eyes on the pair. Faith isn't sure she likes the way he's looking at Buffy. Why is he looking at her like that?

"What did you do with Willow?" Giles' smile faded as he waited to hear what happened.

"Tara is going to do some kind of mojo and rid of her of the First's influence."

"You left them alone? Are you sure that's wise?" Giles gave them both a startled glance.

Buffy shrugged, seemingly not at all worried about Tara or what she might be planning. "Did you know Tara?"

He nodded, "Briefly. She was a sweet girl and a very talented witch."

"Was she trustworthy?"

"A lot has happened since I knew her. I can't possibly speak to her character now. We also have no idea what Willow has done to her."

"Speaking of people who are trustworthy… where is Angelus?" Faith asked, feeling that this conversation is pointless. If Tara was going to betray them, it was already too late. There was nothing any of them could do to stop either of the powerful witches.

"I'm not sure. He disappeared not too long ago. Why?"

"He tried to trick me. Gave me a dagger to kill Willow. Tara said it would have killed me and made Willow even more powerful if I had used it. The First showed up, and it was pretty pissed. Makes me think they were working together."

"What did this dagger look like?"

"It was kinda plain, nothing too fancy about it. Tara seemed to think it was enchanted." Faith shrugged. She was starting to feel anxious, now that the connection to Buffy was so open, she couldn't keep control of what she was feeling. The pang of jealousy she felt when Riley looked at Buffy was confusing her. It was too much emotion. She needed to do something. She just wasn't sure what she needed to do.

"Tara said it would be about an hour. We're going to grab some food and check on them in a bit." Faith took Buffy's hand and pulled her into the hallway. Ignoring the confused looks from everyone in the room.

Willow

It hurts, it hurts so much. Why does everything hurt? Willow was thrashing in her bed, vaguely aware of a figure standing over her. She knew the essence of the figure and was comforted by it. As she began to understand what the voice was saying, she started to feel less comforted. Painful memories returned to her, remembering when she saw Tara die, the blood spreading across her shirt. Her lifeless body dropping to the ground. Remembering searching endlessly for ways to bring her back. Remembering tracking down the human who took her loves life and ending his. Her mind reeled against the memories, all the anger and pain pressing on her.

"It's ok. You're going to be OK. It's going to be hard, but you'll be OK. I have to go, you have to let me go." Let her go? I can't let her go! How can she ask me to do that? Tara's voice became more and more clear, as she repeated the words. "I know you don't want to, but you have to. You have to let me go. My time is over, you will learn to live without me. You have to. Promise me that you'll let me go." Willow can hear the pain in Tara's voice, and she knows she has to listen. She has to promise. She opens her mouth, but no words come out.

She felt something being pressed into her hand and an unpleasant sharp pain on her cheek.

"Let them help you. I will always love you."

It's the last thing she heard as she shot awake, sitting up abruptly. Groaning at the brightness of the room. She scanned the room for her love, quickly discerning that Tara was gone. She panicked as she sat upright on the bed, hoping that it was all just a dream.